4 Player Chess and Variants - A Guide Through the Long Lost World
"If you grind regular chess, you have no life. If you grind 4pc, grass must be touched." - @LazyDog24
But seriously, isn't losing every single game boring? Enter the realm of 4 player chess and variants. It might seem like an alternate universe at first, but it's actually quite easy to learn, especially if you have decent chess skills and at least two brain cells to make GOOD decisions and not play for 3rd place. #6v1usateamers
Start by going to the variants server. You can hover over the "Play" tab (on browser, idk about mobile and the Chess.com app) and click on "4 Player and Variants".
There, you will be greeted with a screen like this:
If not, then you will want to click the info button in the toolbar:
If you don't know anything about 4pc or variants, I'd suggest scrolling through the whole thing. It lists a couple keyboard shortcuts, how to use the main filters (to switch between 4pc only and 2p variants only), and some other basic info about the user interface. But it's probably not necessary. You can just click the X and move on.
Here's where all the good stuff is:
Looks crazy, doesn't it? Well, that's what this guide is for!
As you can see in the top left corner, there are two filters (also outlined in the information popup I showed above): there is the 4pc only filter and the 2p variants only filter. If you have the 4pc only filter selected, it only displays 4 player games (and all 4 player variants are included, such as Chaturaji and War For Throne). If you have the 2p variants only filter selected, it only displays 2 player variants (such as Atomic, Crazyhouse, and Duck Chess). Some variants can be found in both categories because of the nature of the game, such as Thermopylae (4 players, but two are zombie bots and so there are, in reality, only 2 actual players). You can go through the extra filters to see all the variants, or you can search for a specific variant using the search bar given under the filters. But make sure if you want to play a 2 player variant, that you don't have the 4pc only filter selected!
Once you click on the variant you want to play, you will be faced with a set of options that look something like this:
These options will vary between variants. If you click on 4 Player Chess, there will be more options because there are more players and different modes. But they're quite self-explanatory and don't really require further explanation. You can challenge whoever you want to a 2 player game, or you can invite players to a 4 player game (casual only, however). You can also play against bots, but they aren't that great. So don't play with bots. Unless you're making a custom variant that you want to submit. When it comes to 4pc, there are some more options such as "Anonymous" and "Solo". Anonymous is self-explanatory—the identities of the players in the game are hidden until the game ends. Semi-anon is the same, except that you know who is playing in the game and their ratings—but you don't know which color they are playing as. Solo is a version of FFA (free-for-all) where only the 1st place finisher gains rating and all other players lose equally. This is only an option for 2100+ rated games.
Now that we've covered everything in the "Play" tab, we can move over to the "Lobby" tab!
Except...there's nothing useful there lol
Again, everything is quite self-explanatory. If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments or DM me. But basically, you can filter based on rating range, time control, and type of game (for 4pc).
The Arenas tab...also kinda useless lol
Watch tab is for you to spectate games. If you want to learn from higher rated players, you can watch one of the highest-placed games in the list. You can also follow a player by searching up their username in the search bar provided.
The Leaders tab is the leaderboard.
Oh, and the archive...that requires its own guide. For now you can go to the 4 Player Chess club and search up "archive guide". I think I made a post about it on my previous account, @RatingCrisis. But that was from before the merge, so it's kind of outdated...most of the features are similar, though.
And the Friends tab. Not gonna explain this. Hopefully you know what this is.
So yeah, that's about it, except for the game archive, which I'll make another post on later. Or you can just click this to see the old post. If you want to make a custom position, you can click "Edit Position" in the Play tab after you click on the game you want to edit. I made a post about how to use the editor here.
Hope this helps, and I'm looking forward to making more posts like these!
